Baseball

Lemmo and Rosenbaum Lead Ithaca Past Misericordia in NCAA Opener

May 16, 2012

#3 Ithaca - 2, #4 Misericordia - 1

Farmingdale, N.Y. – The Ithaca College baseball team (28-8-1), seeded third in the NCAA New York Regional, rallied for a 2-1 win over the fourth-seeded Misericordia Cougars (36-9) in Wednesday's opening round. The Bombers will face the host Rams, seeded second, Thursday at 3:30 p.m. Junior Pat Lemmo allowed just four hits and an unearned run over eight innings and senior Tucker Healy tied Ithaca's career record with his 16th save. Senior center fielder Mike Rosenbaum's two-out two-run single in the fifth provided Ithaca's offense.

Rosenbaum – who had two of Ithaca's three hits on the day – singled up the middle to bring home senior first baseman Mike Preite and junior left fielder Andrew Turner. Preite reached on an infield error to open the inning and Turner was hit by the next pitch from Misericordia sophomore Gabe Noyalis. After both runners moved up on a sacrifice bunt by sophomore catcher Corey Caswell, Noyalis (2-2) fanned senior shortstop Tim Locastro (the nation's seventh-leading hitter) on a full count before Rosenbaum put the Bombers on the board.

Noyalis threw a complete-game three-hitter, allowing just two walks. Both Ithaca runs were unearned.

The Cougars scored a second-inning run when sophomore shortstop Ryan Cacchioli reached on a one-out infield single and junior second baseman Bubba Jasinski got on board on an error. Senior catcher Chris Tuttle singled up the middle for the game's first run before Lemmo set down the next two hitters to limit the damage.

Junior center fielder Kenny Durling singled through the left side in the third inning for Misericordia; Lemmo didn't allow another hit over the next five innings. Durling broke the streak, singling with one out in the top of the eighth. After a line drive that Bomber senior second baseman Matt Keller nearly turned into an inning-ending double play, senior left fielder Nate Hamlin reached on an infield error and Cacchioli was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Lemmo got ahead of Jasinski 1-2 and induced an inning-ending groundout.